Stirling’s Labour Councillors have ensured that the council’s lowest paid workers will receive a little bit extra in their Christmas pay packet thanks to a motion from Bannockburn Councillor Margaret Brisley.

In November, the Living Wage Foundation proposed that the National Living Wage should rise from £9 to £9.30 from 1^stApril 2020.  Cllr Brisley proposed that the lowest hourly rate payable at the council should rise from £9.07 per hour to £9.37 per hour, but that it should be backdated to 16^thNovember so that employees will see the difference in their Christmas paycheck.

Cllr Brisley’s also committed the council to bringing forward plans in the New Year that could see the council increase its minimum rate of pay to £10 per hour from 1^stApril.  Cllr Brisley’s motion called for a proposal to be part of the council budget process to introduce a ‘pay supplement’ to be offered to employees to ensure the lowest wage offered to employees was the equivalent of £10 per hour until the Living Wage Foundation recommends a rate equal to or above £10 per hour and such a rate is adopted by Stirling Council.  

This takes Stirling Council a big step closer to fulfilling a Stirling Labour manifesto commitment ahead of the 2017 Stirling Council election to introduce a £10 Living Wage.  

Cllr Brisley says,

“It was a Labour led Administration that ensured Stirling Council became a Living Wage accredited employer in 2015 and it is the Labour Group on Stirling Council that is leading the way again with another pay rise for our lowest paid workers that is above the Living Wage Foundation recommendation.   The Labour Group are determined to get this pay award over the £10 an hour line, but it is tough trying to overcome Tory austerity and SNP Government cuts to council budgets.  My motion to council today ensures we have a real shot at delivering £10 an hour in April. It would be a done deal if Labour are elected at the General Election and I hope people vote Labour to ensure a government that will deliver real change for the many, not the few.”

Every year the Living Wage Foundation sets an hourly rate for accredited employers to pay and gives them six months to make the change. Under the previous Labour-led Administration, Stirling Council became a Living Wage Accredited Employer in 2015.  Every year since Labour Councillors have voted for the change and for it to be applied almost immediately, ensuring those who need it most get a little extra at Christmas.  

‘Stirling Labour strongly condemns the reckless, anti-democratic actions of Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson in suspending Parliament for a crucial five-week period in the run up to Brexit Day.  It is now clear that he intends to take Britain out of the EU without a deal, and is happy to risk democracy in the process.  He is turning Britain into both a tin-pot dictatorship, and the laughing stock of the Western world.’

‘It is outrageous for Stirling Tory MP Stephen Kerr to cynically talk about the prorogation of Parliament as if it’s a normal event.  It hasn’t been normal since the days of King Charles I, which led to a Civil War.  How on earth can Kerr even try to pretend that shutting down Parliament in the middle of the biggest crisis since World War two is okay? Even some Tory MP’s, including the Speaker of the House of Commons, have referred to Johnson’s action as “a constitutional outrage”. Kerr’s party are threatening the future of the UK, democracy, and our economy by doing this.’

We call on Kerr to reconsider his decision to sit on the fence while populist dictatorial decisions are taken by his Government, and to condemn the actions of Johnson.  Kerr should also stop pretending there is any chance of a decent deal being negotiated with the EU as a result of his Government’s increasingly Trump-like behaviour.

‘This contrasts with Labour’s attempts to unite the country, and broker a deal to ensure that we avoid the effects of a No Deal Brexit, as well as giving the Country an opportunity to think again now that we understand the full implications of our crisis situation.’

‘Democracy is like the Amazon rainforest – it can only be torched once, and it’s gone.  On behalf of the Many, we will do everything we can to ensure these tactics don’t work, and that both Stephen Kerr, and his appalling Government are held to account.’

Published by Mark Eyre – Secretary, Stirling Constituency Labour Party

In 2017, Stirling Labour published a Stirling manifesto which contained a series of commitments that would be pursued by Labour Councillors if elected.     Over the last year the Labour Group of Stirling Councillors have shown what a seat around the table and a great deal of hard work can do to deliver Labour commitments that work for the many, not the few.   Here is the first of a new regular series of articles on how your Labour Councillors are delivering on promises for Stirling.

Our manifesto committed us to “ensure tenants are always put first and that landlords live up to their obligations”.

That’s why Cllr Danny Gibson has led on moves to investigate the need for a rent pressure zone in Stirling, saying “landlords who don’t want to live up to their responsibilities with repairs, or squeeze as much out of people’s pockets as they can, should take note that we’re watching them and we will ensure that tenants are treated fairly now and in the future”.

In “jobs and economy”, we promised to “lead the way by ensuring Stirling Council sets the standard we want all organisations to aspire to”.

That’s why this month your Labour Councillors have set a “gold standard” in paternity pay for council employers and adopted Unison’s “Apprenticeship Charter” to ensure our young people have key rights and their managers key responsibility in ensuring we are developing a workforce with the skills we need now and in the future.  We’ve also ensured that the Living Wage at Stirling Council is set higher than the Living Wage Foundation recommends.

We promised to “poverty proof the school day, ensuring every child has the support they need to learn.”

We have a lot still to do here, but this month Cllr Margaret Brisley ensured that nearly 1500 children will benefit from a significant rise in a key Stirling Council poverty fund.  The clothing and footwear grant will rise from £50 to £130 per child, which research suggests is the cost faced by parents ahead of a new school.

Labour Cllr Chris Kane has set up and chaired a Short Life Working Group looking at ways the council can tackle the appalling tragedy that is the Tories’ “Universal Credit”.  His report will be presented at a full meeting of Stirling Council next week, but has already delivered on a key recommendation to help tackle digital poverty with a £200,000 investment in digital support across the council’s libraries.  The Labour Group continue to ensure that the council work in partnership with organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureau to help our citizens deal with universal credit, which Chris says  is “fundamentally flawed and devastating to the most vulnerable people in our communities”.

We promised to “invest in new equipment for play parks”.

Earlier on this month, the Partnership Administration announced a £250,000 boost for play parks which will see new equipment installed across 22 parks in the seven wards that make up the council area.

We said we would commit to making Stirling a dementia friendly city and district.

Again, we have much still to do, but Cllr Christine Simpson is a member of the Council’s Adult Social Care Panel, where she works to promote and further our manifesto commitments on health and social care.  Recently Christine was at Stirling’s King’s Park to hear how the public space has become “dementia friendly.”

We said we would “put pressure on the Scottish Government to overhaul the planning system to put more power in the hands of our local communities, not the hands of developers or distant government bureaucrats”

That’s why we highlighted that it took 382 days for SNP Ministers to agree with their own appeals panel NOT to allow building on Airthrey Kerse, and why we highlighted that Scottish Government Ministers have decided to make the final decision on whether to overturn Stirling Council’s decision to not build more houses on the Bannockburn Battlefield.

Your Labour Councillors will always stand up for STIRLING and its many communities.

Your Labour Councillors will never shy away from putting pressure on the SNP Government, as they demonstrated with their condemnation of the SNP spin on this year’s budget offer to Scottish Local Authorities.  They’ll also continue to put pressure on the Tory Government on issues including Universal Credit and their uncaring attitude to communities affected by RBS closures.

We’ll also call out government measures, both at Holyrood and Westminster, if they make delivering our local manifesto more difficult – as we did when the SNP Government’s published a draft transport bill that undermined our ambition to deliver a community owned public transport company.

Your Labour Councillors have a great deal of work still to do in the coming years, but we stand by our manifesto and will strive to implement as much of it as possible during the current Administration at Stirling Council.  We’ll continue to deliver regular updates on our progress on this website.

Want to join us?  Click here to join Labour and help create a world that works for the many, not the few.

In Stirling Labour’s 2017 manifesto for Stirling Council, we announced plans to create new community ownership models in energy, broadband and public transport.  When the Labour/SNP partnership was formed, six key priorities for local government were agreed.  One of them says:

“We will create and implement environment and infrastructure improvements. We will deliver new ownership and delivery methods around energy generation, public transport and internet access, ensuring profits and services work to community, not commercial priorities.”

The SNP Government’s recent draft transport bill will leave the profits of bus operators in the hands of private companies and let them cherry pick the best routes, while abandoning the loss-making lifeline services and forcing Local Authorities to pick up the pieces.

Stirling Labour’s Community Ownership Spokesperson, Cllr Chris Kane, says,

“This SNP bill will hamper our ambition to create a community owned public transport company which works to community, not commercial priorities.  This bill will leave profit in the hands of bus companies while councils pick up the gaps and losses.  Once again it seems that Brian Souter’s Stagecoach has more influence over government policy than people and communities.  I support Scottish Labour’s plans to radically overhaul the bill to allow councils to create a public transport plan that works for the many, not the few.”

In its current form, the bill would only allow local authorities to run bus services in very restricted circumstances where there is no private provider and the legislation would not allow any public sector bids for bus franchises.

In practice, the legislation would only allow public control of the routes that private providers deem unprofitable, leaving local councils to pick up the pieces and all the losses going forward.

Scottish Labour will now put forward a series of amendments to radically overhaul the bill and give the country a transport system that works for the many, not the few.

Speaking after the bill was published last week, Scottish Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy, Connectivity and Transport Colin Smyth MSP said:

 “Under the SNP government bus fares have soared but passenger numbers have plummeted as bus services have been dismantled route by route. This bill was a chance to deliver real change on our buses and start to reverse the SNP’s decade of decline but instead it is a huge missed opportunity. We know the SNP prefer private to public ownership when it comes to our railways, now we know it is the same on our bus routes. Labour will now put forward a series of amendments to change the bill. We will safeguard the free bus pass for older people, improve concessionary travel for young people and allow local authorities to deliver a people’s bus service where passengers, not profits are the priority.”

This story relates to our 2017 Stirling Council Manifesto Commitment: